Strike Back - Kandahar
by 10th Muse
Summary: Emily Prentiss was pulled out of her current assignment and sent to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in a joint mission with two members from MI-6 to escort a man from the Middle East when things suddenly went awry and one of the member went missing! Now, they had to find that person but soon they found out things were not what it seemed. Will they get out of Kandahar alive?
1. Chapter 1

**This is a cross-over story between Emily Prentiss from Criminal Minds and John Porter from Strike Back Original.**

**I do not own any of the original characters from either of the shows…just the fictional ones I created…so, please, please do not sue me!**

**I write for the sheer pleasure and enjoyment! I hope you'd give this story a chance and any feedback would be appreciated! **

**Thank you!**

**P. Muse**

…

Strike Back Originals: Kandahar

Chapter 1

.

"Okay, it's a wrap!" The photographer said as he placed his camera down.

Emily sighed as she let a breath out and muttered, "Good, I can stop sucking in my guts."

Benito began to laugh as he took out the data card, "You know I can hear you, Em."

"And you know I don't give a shit, Nito." She was about to step into a portable dressing room when a helicopter approached. They all looked up at the sound of the whirling noise.

The set assistants began to rush through the set and gathered the light weight props before it were blown away by the wash of the force caused by the whirl of the helicopter blades.

"What the fuck?" Benito covered his eyes to keep from being sand blasted; they were at a beach. "Who are these fucking jerks?" He was yelling at the top of his lungs as he turned his camera around so the lens was turned towards him, keeping the sand from hitting it.

Emily using the beach towel pulled it over her head and covered her face, "Beats me but it must be someone important." She peeked to look at the make of the chopper and almost groaned when she saw INTERPOL.

_Not now! I just began my undercover assignment of less than a week!_

As the helicopter landed, an agent stepped out and came to her directly. He managed to keep a straight face and said, "You've been reassigned, Agent Prentiss." He handed her a folder labeled Priority One.

"Hey!" Benito went to them angrily. "Who the fuck are you, you jerk ass? You just ruin my setup here! And my equipment which costs me hundreds of thousands of dollars! I ought to sue the shit out of you! You have no idea who you're messing with!" He waved his camera angrily at the agent.

The agent continued to ignore him as he waited for Emily, who continued to read the contents of the folder.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, ass hole! Who is your fucking boss? I want his name, now!" He snapped his fingers.

Emily closed the folder and looked up, "Nito, will you shut up for a moment?"

He stared at her, "What did you just say? Did you just tell me to shut up?"

Emily sighed, "Look, you fat faggot. You and your piddly little possé you call photo crew are under arrest for drug trafficking …not to mention under age sex trafficking, so shove your pompous pie hole up!"

Benito began to open and closed his mouth several times.

She looked at the agent and said, "The young girls are locked up in a storage locker near Hotel Somersby by Interstate 23." He nodded as he took out his cell phone and began making arrangements per Emily's orders.

Emily hopped into the copilot seat.

"Hey, Kevin! How's it going? Come on, let's get going. I've got a plane to catch."

Kevin nodded, "Yeah, that's what they tell me… legs." He chuckled into the headsets. "We're flying into Heathrow directly, got a special pass. A jet is waiting for you."

"Who's flying to Kandahar?" She asked.

"I think it's Stanley. He's in rotation to fly into the hot zone." He grinned cheerfully at her. "I did wonder why they ask me to pick up your laundry." He indicated her bag in the back seat.

She turned around to look and saw the gear and groaned again, "Shit, that's right…desert wear." She looked down at what she was wearing. "Guess I'll change out of this when I get in the jet."

The pilot laughed again, "Oh, how I wish I'm going to Kandy Land with you now." Kandy land was the nickname they gave for Kandahar. "Wait, no" He shook his head, "No, I don't want to go right now."

She shook her head, "Kevin, you know it's not going to be an R&R. We're on an extract mission."

Kevin shook his head, "I know, and I hate extract missions. Luckily, Sherry is ready to pop any day." He grinned.

Emily turned to him and reach over to punch him on his arm, "That's right! I bet she's ready to have that baby in this heat!"

Kevin nodded, "Oh yeah! She's bitchin' about how miserable and fat she is. She can't see how beautiful she looks, all pregnant and glowing." He was grinning.

"Hey…hey…watch the trees, Kev!" Emily leaned over. "We're not doing any tree-top trimming here! I'm sure she wants you to get home in one piece and not in a matchbox, you idiot."

He laughed as he corrected his course.

"Okay, okay…I got it. Our ETA is 10 minutes. Let me call into Heathrow and Stan the man…I bet he's eager to move on. They're a little bit stretched out to take off." He said as he key'ed into his mic. "By the way, you're flying with a pair of spooks from -6."

Emily arched her brows, "I know…never worked with them before. I hope they play nice."

He laughed into his mic, "Me too. Gonna to be interesting. Glad I'm not there. I hope your weapon is fully loaded, you might need to shoot them before the mission is over; I heard they're a bunch of sticks."

Emily laughed, "I can handle them, Kev. Trust me, I've a few run-ins with sticks before and broke them into pieces. But we better hurry, they're always blaming us Yanks for our tardiness." She used her best British and exaggerated accent

He began to laugh hard again; Kevin like her was an American and born in New York. They were the only two Americans working for INTERPOL at the moment.

"Tower just flagged us to get to the airport ASAP, we're holding traffic. The Brits are getting nervous." He reported to her in their private communication line.

"They can wait. They can't take off without me anyways; they needed an interpreter and I'm the only one that knows Arabic, Farsi, and a splatter of Pashawar now that Ahmad is gone." She shook her head.

Kevin nodded, "Yeah, just heard about that, you know his wife just had a baby too?"

Emily nodded sadly, "I know, that sucks."

…

In the tarmac, in a modified jet, a man and a woman were settling down in their seats and were ready for takeoff when they were notified that the interpreter at Kandahar Base was killed in an IED accident two hours earlier.

"You've got to be kidding me?" John Porter stared at his partner as they read the text on their tablet.

His partner nodded her head, "This is not a joke, John. Layla just sent us the text." She was scrolling down the information. "But they've got another talker coming in."

"Oh yeah?" He looked at her. "Who do they have on such fast notice?"

She frowned as she read from her tablet, "INTERPOL, E. Prentiss. Former FBI and CIA, too."

Porter shook his head, "Oh god, a Yank!" He turned to Danni Prendiville in disbelieve. "Seriously? That's the best he's got for us? A bloody Yank?" He sat back and slammed his head back against the back of the seat in anger, "We're going to die."

His partner quickly wiped her frown from her face and grinned, "It could have been worst, and thanks for the vote of confidence in Brits, partner." She continued to grin lovingly at him.

John Porter arched a dark brow at her, "Sorry Danni, what could have been worse than a Yank in our group?"

She chuckled, "E. Prentiss could be a female?"

He shook his head and then paused, "Yeah…maybe, let's hope not."

She turned from him and stared out towards the small window for a moment before she turned back to her partner and smiled.

Porter continued to laugh and then frowned; the implication didn't escape him; the possibilities of having two females in his team to protect were not lost on him.

"Oh god…this is not possible…" He groaned."

She laughed again, "This is your karma..for screwing all the females in the past."

"Danni, it's not funny. I'm married. I have a teenage daughter."

That made her laugh even more.

He shook his head, "No appreciation."

They then became quiet.

"What the bloody hell are we waiting for?" John began to fuss about his seat.

"Probably that Yank, they are known for their damn tardiness and don't give a damn about inconveniencing others." Danni grinned and looked at her watch. "We're going to get to Kandahar late and the window is closing on us and the extraction, Layla is going to have kittens."

They then heard the door opened and a lot of commotion as heated voices exchanged then the cabin door closed again before the jet began to move.

John and Danni watched with stunned surprise when they saw her coming into the aisle.

"Er, are you on the right plane, Miss?"John was staring blatantly at her.

Danni saw his stare and was annoyed with him.

"Really, I think there must have been some sort of mistake." Danni began to agree as she craned her neck over Porter's to look all over the newcomer, from head to toe. "This is not the USO tour group, Miss."

Emily laughed as she slammed her bags down a seat in front of them. "Hi! I'm Emily Prentiss!" She held out her hand to Danni and John. "And yes, I'm on the right aircraft. And no, I'm not part of the USO group."

Danni slowly extended her hand out and said, "You are E. Prentiss? The interpreter from INTERPOL? The one Layla sent?"

She nodded as she shook her hand enthusiastically. "Yup, that's me! So…you are?"

"Danni Prendiville, MI-6."

She nodded and turned to her partner and held out her hand, "And you are…?"

John arched his brow as he raked his eyes over her …partially lack of attire. "John Porter. I hope you're not entering Afghanistan wearing that." He shook his head smugly. "It would be disrespectful to the country and their culture."

Emily frowned as she looked down and laughed again, "Oh no!" She reached over and opened her bag and began to pull out her desert fatigues. She turned to look at them but her demeanor completely changed as she said seriously, "Look, guys. You might as well get use to me right now. We're going to spend a good amount of time down there together. I'm not going to be modest or anything, so get used to it."

She pulled her hair into a ponytail and tied it and grabbed a damp wipe and began to wipe off the heavy make-up from her face. "I was pulled out of an undercover assignment, if you're wondering. I didn't like all this fucking make-up shit either. I know I look like a whore."

John arched his brow again. "Er…that didn't come across my thought at all, Officer Prentiss."

She shook her head, "It's still Agent Prentiss and it's Emily. We're extracting this top man of a holy Muslim group. And you two had better get use to my name because in the heat of a hot zone, we won't have time for formalities."

Danni and John exchanged their still stunned looks and nodded, "Our apologies… Emily." Danni nodded at the back of her as she had shrugged out of her swimsuit and began to put on her bra and green Tee-shirt, then she shed off the rest of the suit before she donned her panties and combat pants.

She pulled in her boots and tied them and checked her Glock before she put it in the back of her pants and spare cartridges. And slid a Bowie knife down into her boots.

"So, Emily," John grinned. "You were in a photo shoot?"

She sat up and looked at him, "Yeah, undercover work as a swimsuit model hence the swimsuit."She sat back down on her seat.

"Nice bikini, by the way, Emily." John chuckled. "That bright pink is becoming."

Emily laughed, "You're joking, right? It was too neon brilliantly and blindingly bright." She shook her head, "Not my color." She held up the offending material for a moment before she dropped it on the seat next to her.

Just then a medic came down the aisle and said to them, "Excuse me, Agent Prentiss, and Officers Prendiville and Porter," They looked up at him.

"Yes, and you are?" John asked him.

"I'm with the British Army Reserve Medical Team and we have your medical records faxed on board and all of you are not up to speed on your shots." He said stoically. "You're one month overdue on your shots, especially the tetanus."

The three stared at him for a moment before Emily shook her head, "There must be a mistake, I thought I had my shots updated? I mean I was in…shit." She glanced at the two MI-6 officers, "You two have top secret clearances, right?" They nodded. "Of course, or you'd not be on this mission…okay I was in Bangalore, India last month. That means I have all my shots updated, and that includes tetanus."

The medic shook his head, "It's not on your med record, ma'am." He waved her medical sheet at her.

She glared at him, "And you so happen to have the necessary shots on hand, don't you?"

The medic grinned and nodded. "It's at the back of the aircraft."

She shook her head and waved at him in surrender, "Let's go, Hannibal."

The medic held his hand up, "Wait. You two as well."

Emily looked at them and chuckled, "Oh yeah, shots party! Oh what fun!" She rolled her eyes up.

John and Danni stood up and followed them shook their heads, "He's grinning too much, and apt description of calling him Hannibal but with syringes." John muttered as they walked down the aisle and into the front where a few of the staff were sitting down. "More like Freddy Kruger."

"Come on, John, and don't faint on me again!" Danni teased him.

Emily turned to glance at them, "What, he's afraid of a little needle?"

"Have you seen the size of the needles they've been packing lately?" John frowned at her when they gathered next to the medic and his kit and saw the length of his syringes.  
"Again, he's more Freddy Kruger than Hannibal."

"I don't care what he is, he's a sadist!" John paled.

Danni shook her head, "Wuss."

Emily pulled up her short sleeve and exposed her upper arm but the medic shook his head, "Sorry, the gluteus maximus, Agent." He pointed to her butt and grinned.

"Oh, you're enjoying this too much, aren't you, Sgt. Smith?" She turned around and pulled her pants down and exposed her behind to them, John arched his brows admiring her bared behind. "Ouch!" she winced as the syringe went into her flesh. Danni frowned at him again, feeling slightly jealous. Luckily the medic didn't see them as he had turned around to grab another needle and band-aid.

"Okay, do you want a Disney Princess Band-aid? Or a Hello Kitty?" The medic chuckled as he rubbed an alcohol cotton ball on her sore.

"I don't need any, thanks, Freddy." She pulled her pants up and buttoned them.

The medic smiled, "It's actually Devin, ma'am." He waved a Disney Band Aid at her as she shook her head again and thanking him she headed back towards the front of the plane.

When John and Danni returned to their seats later, they saw that Emily was asleep in the seat in front of them.

"I guess her Highness is catching up on her beauty rest." Danni said softly thankful their view was blocked by the high backed seats but they could see her legs hanging out of the aisle, her boots hanging on the armrest of the chair.

John chuckled softly, "Probably, I hope she's up to speed on the whole mission." He waved at the folder.

"We'd better text Layla and Collinson about finding another interpreter. She's not going to last the first hour we landed." John shook his head. "A bloody Yank…and a damn bloody female!"

"You know, MI-6 has worked with INTERPOL many times and has never failed, have faith in Layla, the agency and Clyde Easter in this joint effort." Danni pointed.

John arched his skeptical brow at her, "Danni, look at her!" he hissed. "She's flaky! She's going to get us killed there." He shook his head. "I think Easter has lost his bloody marbles this time. What is he thinking when he send us this Yank?" He stared at Emily's sleeping form angrily. "I doubt she knows how to shoot, much less how to use that knife!"

Danni was laughing silently but hard, "John, you're completely paranoid and ridiculous. She's flaky, yes. But," she stopped laughing as she said seriously. "Have you noticed how she handled her gun and the Bowie knife?" John didn't reply. "No? Because you were busy looking down her cleavage, my dear but I did and it was not a flaky move." She shook her head. "No, she knows what she's doing with her weapons. And she mentioned Bangalore that happened a month ago, a highly classified mission, which, if you'd paid attention instead of her chest size, you'd know what she's talking about."

John frowned at Danni, "Give me a break, will you? I listened and I was not looking at her tits…" Danni harrumphed in disbelief. "No, my dear, I'm well aware of the Bangalore mission INTERPOL was involved; so she's the one that rescued that diplomat's kid."

Danni nodded, "Yeah, I see you've read the brief too; the brief said an unnamed female agent went undercover as a nanny and extracted the kid out from under their nose. And by the time they'd realized he was gone, the kid's safe in London. Not bad.. for a flake." John reddened and grinned a little.

"Yeah, I see your point." Danni nodded. "Although I wonder what happened to those kidnappers? It was never mentioned in the brief."

"They were executed by the Indian government three days later when they turned up nicely tied up in front of the France Embassy." Emily said aloud from the front seat suddenly.

Danny and John looked up and shook their heads in embarrassment at having being caught gossiping like a pair of hens.

"Next time," Emily said sleepily. "If you want to know what happened, how about asking straight from the source?"

"Sorry, Agent Prentiss." Danni began to laugh. "It won't happen again.

"Same here, Yank." John threw a peanut at her. "We'll remember that, right Danni?" He grinned at his partner who nodded.

Emily laughed from the other side of the seat as she tossed the nut back at him, "Got any pretzels, Brit? I've not had any lunch since yesterday."

Porter reached down and pulled out a big bag of pretzels and tossed it over to her, and heard it hitting her head, "OUCH!"

"Sorry!"

She ripped the bag opened and began munching on it, "Thanks! Oh god! Honey and mustard flavor, how did you know it's my favorite?"

He arched a brow, "Lucky me, it's my favorite, too."

Danni stared at him, a tiny flare of jealousy burned in her; she hated pretzels.

…

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Strike Back – Kandahar

Chapter 2

.

"Danni," Emily folded her hands across her chest in frustration. "Please tell Porter we have to get going. Target looks like he's getting a little agitated."

She turned to look as Mahmoud Al Fashir who was bound and gagged and shrugged. "No worries, Emily. John knows what he's doing."

Arching an eyebrow at her, "Look, I'm telling you we're being watched. We need to change location."

Danni turned away from Emily, "You tell him then. I'm not doing it. He's in quite a bit of a stress in case you haven't notice."

"Oh yeah?" Emily sneered at her. "I wonder why."

She turned around and faced Emily angrily. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"For one, his wife…his real life wife."

"Again, what is that suppose to mean, Emily?"

Emily shook her head, "Layla called and told me his wife called and has been asking to talk to him. I'm not in the habit of relaying spousal messages. I'm nobody's secretary or his owl."

"Well, neither am I."

"Then, quit fucking him, she's not stupid and she knows." Emily said angrily. "You're distracting him with your body."

"And, is that a problem?" Danni smoothed her hips provocatively and deliberately.

"No but it's affecting his work. I need his mind in this…100 percent." She glared at her.

"Problem, ladies?"

They turned to see John Porter standing by the doorway, his towering height almost touching the top of the door frame, he had to bend his head to enter the room. He glanced from Danni to Emily and then back to Danni, his eyes not missing the tension in the room.

Emily shrugged, "I don't know…your …girlfriend is causing a big distraction in this mission." She faced him.

Porter grinned, "Jealous?" He leaned in close to her, so close they were almost nose to nose.

Emily did not flinch from him, "Not at all…Layla called, your wife…she wanted to remind you about your daughter's upcoming Birthday."

Porter frowned, "I haven't forgotten." He turned away from Emily.

Emily shrugged, "Look, Porter, I'm just relaying the message…and I'm relaying this last message. I'm not an owl…or, or a pigeon. Go buy you a new one." She then walked away and then stopped and turned back to him, "By the way, we need to move Al Fashir, we're being tracked."

"Did he say anything else?" He asked her, his attention instantly on alert.

Emily nodded, "Yeah…he talked. And he wants to deal. He wants a safe house."

Porter shook his head, "Are you kidding me?"

Emily shook her head and laugh, "No, dead serious. He wants to go to the United States of America…Miami, Florida. Don't ask me why."

He sighed, "He didn't say the magic words."

"Nope. He has not mention political asylum." She shook her head.

John smiled at her, "We'll let the politicians worry about it when he does."

Emily returned his smile, "I hope I won't be there…I hate politics."

"Me too." He beamed, looking at her deeply, saw her understanding and appreciation.

Danni, standing nearby, did not like their rapport; since their arrival at Kandahar, they had gotten along famously. She had tried to put herself in between them but Emily and John hadn't minded at all, in fact they had gotten very well. And they had a lot in common.

Danni did not like it.

She knew she did not have any say at all, after all she was also the other woman in John's life but still, she knew him longer…

Was she being replaced?

Danni sighed; time to take matters in her own hands…after all, that bitch was a Yank and John didn't like Yanks, he had said so before.

And it was time to move to Phase 2; she had received a coded message from her boss…real boss…

"Okay Prentiss," John stood close to her.

For a moment, Emily had a flashback; Hotch talking to her…

Shaking her head, she looked at Porter and realized that he was not Aaron Hotchner; he had moved on with another person, he had picked someone else to move on. Emily had also moved on but sometimes she flashed back to the times when she hoped he'd remember her…

John continued, "Al Fashir said the sleeper cell is in Gloucester?"

Emily nodded, "Yes, and Camden, and another one but he wouldn't name the final cell until we promise him the safe house in Miami."

"Greedy bastard…" Danni muttered.

They looked at her and frowned, "Danni, Al Fashir brought us many information…he risked his life to do so. It's the least we can do to provide protection." Emily said. "And this location, this final sleeper cell," She turned to John, "it sounded as if it's the most important…no, the most key location of all."

John straightened from the wall he was leaning against and nodded, "You're right, we need this last location. We don't have a choice but to give him what he wants."

Danni turned away from them and walked out of the room.

"She'll never understand," John said as he watched her leave.

Emily frowned as she also watched after her, "I'm not so sure, Porter…" She shook her head and turned back to look at him. "It's not my place but there's something off about her."

John arched a brow, "Jealous?"

Emily shook her head again, "Not at all. It's not that…just a different vibe I'm getting from her." She walked around the room. "But you're right about the sleeper cells. Al Fashir is too vial, we have to make nice to him to obtain the location, we have lost too many good people."

He nodded as he watched her paced about the room, "We'll eliminate them…we'll put a stop to the terrorists."

She nodded, "Yeah, I wish it's that simple, Porter. Every time we squash a cell, five or ten pops up." She said dejectedly. "But here we are, doing our best to get them."

He nodded, "Yes, we continue to do our job. That's all we can do."

"In the mean time, so many gave their lives to obtain vital information." She recalled the dead translators she was here, taking their place.

He said softly, "I know, I lost many friends too." He reached out and placed a comforting hand on hers.

She smiled and nodded before retracting her hand and looked around, "It's gone dark." They had a rule about being outdoors after dark. "She should be back here by now."

"Damn!" John cussed as he walked out. "Danni!" he opened the door and looked out.

Emily moved over to the window and looked out as well; most of the regular folks had also gone indoors. To stay out would be to invite trouble and especially single foreign woman.

John took his satellite phone out and began dialing Danni's number heard the phone ringing in her bedroom.

John rushed into the bedroom and came out with the phone angrily, "She left it here. We have no way of tracking her! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" He threw it across the clay wall of the small house. He shook his head at Emily, "The GPS is in her phone."

"I'm sorry, John." Emily said softly. "I hope she's safe wherever she's at." Then she frowned, "Why do we have a tracker on the phone if it has GPS locator?"

"It's an extra precautionary measure Hugh placed…an anal retentiveness on his part." He shrugged.

Emily grinned, "You and Collinson don't see eye to eye…it's none of my business."

He grinned, "You could say that...we done some work some years ago and something happened…a long story…and since then, we just never got along." He shrugged. "But now I worked for him, he's my boss, he calls the shots."

Emily gave him a small smile.

Suddenly, the satellite phone buzzed, it was MI-6, Hugh Collinson.

"Yeah?" Porter answered.

Emily saw the tension on his body when he answered the phone; she knew that whatever it was, was more than what Porter had made it out, the tension on his whole demeanor was dark. He almost loathed Collinson. Her profiler instinct had read all she could and the big picture was Hugh Collinson had wronged this man standing before her.

But it was not her battle.

Placing the phone back in the case, he turned to her, "He wants us to move Al Fashir to an extraction point tomorrow morning at dawn."

He moved to the map and showed her the location. Emily nodded.

"But, Danni is still missing." She pointed.

He turned to her, "I told him and he said, if she's not back by then, we're leaving her behind."

Emily shook her head, "Oh no…that's bull shit! You can take Al Fashir to the extract point all you want but I'm going to find Danni. And the hell with Hugh's orders."

John smiled widely, "I'm liking you more and more, Emily Prentiss! We will take Al Fashir to the extract point at dawn but we come back here and search for Danni. Deal?" He held his hand out.

Emily watched him for a moment and then nodded, "Deal." She shook his hand, "By the way, I never like your MI-6 outfit."

He grinned even more, "Me neither, they stink."

She laughed, "Yes they do, John Porter."

….

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Strike Back – Kandahar

Chapter 3

.

But things never went as planned… as always.

Before dawn, John Porter was suddenly awakened by shuffling noise outside the thatched house; alerted, he jumped out of his cot instantly and gun in hand he moved near the covered window and looked out and saw movements!

"Damn!" He muttered and moved quickly towards the room where Emily was sound asleep.

"Prentiss!" He hissed at her sleeping form. "We've got company!"

Eyes opened, she jerked up and was out of her cot and grabbed her weapon and joined him, "What's going on?" She whispered.

"There are at least six men outside." He nodded at her.

"We should get to Al Fashir and get him out now." She said.

John nodded and they began to move to the room where they had place him.

But as they entered the room, they saw the dark cloth they had cover over the window torn opened and Al Fashir being pushed out of the window, his mouth still gagged.

"Shit!" John cursed as he rushed towards the window and the man.

Emily was right behind him. "Damn it! This really sucks and we're really screwed."

John turned to look at her, "Yeah, tell me about it. Hugh is going to be a bear."

She nodded, "Yeah with a pine cone stuck up his fucking ass!"

He chuckled, "You sure have a way with words, Prentiss. But let's take care of the fools outside."

She nodded as they began to fire at them as their opponents return fire.

…

Back in England, Hugh Collinson was notified by his team that his field team was being ambushed.

"Are you kidding me?" He gave them a dark look. They cowered beneath his glare and quickly returned their gaze towards their monitors. "Who was the rat?" He muttered.

"Sir, it seemed someone had tapped into our satellite feed." One of his agents poked his head up.

Hugh walked up to him, "Let me see it."

"It's barely traceable but it's there…" he pointed at the discrepancy.

Hugh frowned at the indicator blinking back at him as if it was blaring loudly, "Bloody hell! It's coming from the house!" He glanced up at the feed. "Inform them right away!" He ordered his team.

"Yes sir!"

Hugh shook his head as he watched them at work and muttered, "Who is it? The Yank?" He turned to his second in command. "Layla, what do we know about the interpreter?"

Layla turned to stare at Hugh, "Agent Emily Prentiss?" She nodded and began to type into her computer and soon called up her dossier and repeated her facts to Hugh.

Hugh shook his head and frowned, "Doesn't make sense…" He began to walk about the room.

Layla joined him, "What's going on? What are you suspecting?"

He shook his head, "We have a mole within. The shakedown down there was not a coincidence. Someone told." He turned to face her. "If not the INTERPOL, then who is it?"

Layla frowned, "Are you suspecting one of us?" She whispered as she looked at about the room.

Hugh saw what she was looking at and pulled her aside, "Are you suspecting someone here?" He asked her in a low tone.

"No one knows where they were but all of us here in this room and the three of them over there, Hugh." She nodded. "Right now, Prentiss is clean, and Porter checks out fine and so is Danni."

Hugh nodded, "That means someone here…okay, I want you to check them out without anyone knowing what you're doing."

Layla nodded and left the room.

Hugh watched her leave and sighed heavily before he continued his walk around the room.

…

Kandahar:

"Emily! Watch your back!" John warned her but realized it was too late when he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head and everything went black.

Emily turned when she heard a loud grunt and before she could see what was going on, she too felt a sharp pain.

But before she loses consciousness, she heard a female voice similar to Danni's voice in Peshawar.

"Tie their hands! Hurry! Load them into the truck…"

Then finally everything black and Emily was unconscious.

….

Back in England…

All the video screens went blank!

Hugh Collinson turned to his team, "What just happen?" His hands on his hips as he glared at them.

They began to type furiously, none of them dared to look up for fear of catching hell from him.

"I'm waiting…" He said as his face began to turn a shade of red, matching the color of his red tie. "And you know I do not like to be kept waiting for lon…"

One of his analyst suddenly shot his hands, "I got it, sir!" he grinned cheerfully which was short-lived when he saw Hugh's arched brow; an indicator that he had better hurry up with his explanation or he'd end up as a janitor for the rest of his young life.

"Er….yes…the feed…was controlled by…er…the people…er…of the…er…er…"

Hugh walked up to the young man and leaned close to him and said in a soft but threatening tone, "If you utter one more 'er' again, I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life cleaning all the toilets of this building…and there are 293 toilets in total, do you understand Officer Hill?"

Beads of perspiration began to break out on his forehead as the young man nodded nervously, "Yes…e…sir." He almost uttered the forbidden word before he stopped and corrected himself quickly.

Hugh nodded and straightened, "Now, we'll start all over, Officer Hill. What have you got for me about the feed?"

Swallowing a few times and licking his dried lips, Hill nodded again, "The feed…is tapped by...sorry, rephrased, controlled by…the other end…I found the GPS track…initiated when…John Porter made a call to Officer Prendiville's satellite phone. We embedded their phones with the track and it activated when any calls were initiated." He paused to catch a breath.

Hugh nodded. "Yes, yes…what else?"

"As we suspected, it was picked up by the Al Qaeda faction group 5 kilometers from the safehouse."

"Are you sure it's them?" Hugh eyed him.

He nodded, "Yes sir, we've been keeping an eye on them…as well. Their surveillance has been intercepted by our National Communications Network."

Hugh smiled briefly before he nodded, "Well done, Officer Hill, I guess you may keep this job after all." He patted him on his back before he moved away.

Hill groaned a long sigh before he collapsed onto his keyboard and lay there for a long while.

His neighbor rolled out from the next cubicle and grinned, "Nice work, Hilly! You saved our bacon!" He laughed again before he rolled his chair back to his cubicle and his work.

"I need a long vacation…stat!" Larry Hill sighed again.

…..


	4. Chapter 4

Strike Back -Kandahar

Chapter 4

.

Slowly waking up, Emily felt groggy and a deep ache at the back of her neck.

"Wha's goin'…" She muttered incoherently.

Forcing her eyes to open, she saw or felt her hands were bound and raised up to the ceiling of the room.

"Emily!"

Emily turned to her right and saw John Porter being tied up in a similar fashion as her.

"Oh…hey, I see-sh we're being held up." She smiled groggily at him before her head flopped forward; it felt heavy! _Damn, what the hell did they give her?_

"It's Narcoboids" He informed her as he gave her a silly grin.

"Narc? Whazat? And why are you smilin' at me like tha?" She slurred.

He shrugged in his confines, "Dunno. But I thin...k it's fun…ny" He chuckled. "Narcoboids are the latest Narcotics… synth…esized in Mexico, Brazil, and now Al Qaeda-sh." He grinned at her again before he continued "It's cheapsh to synthesize… and easy to sheep."

Emily frowned at him, "You mean ship?"

"Isn't that whash I said?" He glared at her.

She nodded and then shook her head, "No, you said sheeeee-p, like Mary had a little lamb…little sheeeeep" She tried not to drag the 'e'.

"Okay, okay…ship…like the boat…" He frowned. "What are we talking about?"

"The drugs…Narc…whats-ever-you-call-it."

"Oh yeah. Narcoboids." He took a deep breath and blew out it out.

"Ho…How ish it ma…?" Emily tried to pronounce the words but it was difficult to concentrate.

As if reading her thoughts, John began to guide her how to control the effects of the drugs, "MI-6 came across the synthetic drugs not too long ago; I volunteered to be their test subject." He favored her his goofy grin. "It was not really hard to control…just take long easy breath into your nose, out your mouth…like this…well, like a runner." He began to show her his method. "The Narcoboids tries to quicken your heart beats and raises your blood pressure, ergo it quickens the flow of the drugs through your blood stream, quickening the effects."

Emily tried it and soon she began to feel the effects of the drugs tapering off and she nodded, "Yeah…yeah…I'm feeling good now…almost back to myself. How long does the drugs last?"

He shrugged again, "Depends on how much dosage they gave you. Typically, it lasts about half a day and it can be very addictive, this is very addictive shit and it's bloody cheap, much cheaper than heroin and weed, dope, meth, crystal, you name it. This shit is beginning to hit your country, by the way." He added. "Method of delivery is through shipping powdered laundry detergent."

Emily frowned, "That's great…U.S. just legalized Marijuana in some states and now this stuff? What's new?"

He grinned at her, "You'll be surprise to know someone is coming out with at least 50 new kinds of synthesized drugs by now…some of them even more lethal than Narcoboids."

She stopped what she was doing and stared at him, "No shit?"

He shook his head, "I'm not kidding but that's for the Drug enforcement people to deal with. Right now, we have to get out of here." He looked up at his hands and assessed his situation. "The metal pipes are rusted, it might be to our advantage" He began to rub the chains against the pipe.

"What do you think I've been doing?" Emily groused; she was rubbing the metal pipes above her.

"Well, either you're working to free yourself or you're trying some new chicken dance." He chuckled.

She gave him a dark look, "Under different circumstances, I'll laugh at your bad joke but right now, it's a poor choice, my friend." She shook her head as she continued rubbing.

They worked quietly for more than ten minutes before Emily stopped as she grunted with exhaustion, she began to look about the room. "Who do you think is responsible for our capture?"

He stopped and looked about him, "Dunno…Whoever it was, knew our location and the whereabouts of Al Fashir."

"The tail…" Emily muttered. "I'm sorry, Porter but I think our location and this mission was compromised as soon as we landed."

He snapped his head and glared at her, "Don't tell me you're still suspicious about Danni? Come on, what proof do you have?"

"She has been behaving rather weird the last couple of days. I used to be a profiler for the FBI and she fits the profile for a sleeper."

"A sleeper? Danni is a sleeper?" John stared at her in disbelief. "Explain." He demanded darkly.

"Okay, when we arrived at the Airbase, she insisted on using the satellite phone right away to call Layla." She used the air-quotes with her cuffed hands.

John shrugged, "You don't believe she made a call to Layla?"

Emily rolled her eyes, "Come on John! She's playing games here and it's not Monopoly or…or Candy Land!" She shook her head, "I'm good friends with a bunch of people back in London and they knew I'm on assignment but I don't call them right away even though the phones are secure. Satellite phones may be secure but it's traceable." She stared at him, "Do you call your family when you landed here?"

John thought for a bit before looking at her, "What else?"

"Why does she insist Al Fashir be moved into her room? We have a smaller room without any windows, the one we'd originally were going to use it as his holding room?" She challenged him.

John had no answer; he did wonder about the illogical reason for holding Al Fashir, it was more secure.

"She reasoned that holding the target in a windowless room would be unethical…inhumane." He explained, realizing it didn't make sense. He remembered that night that he was eager to have her to himself in his room…

Emily saw his expression and gave him a look, "Is she worth it?"

John shook his head, "It's not a matter of that, Prentiss. It's…"

They were interrupted by the sound of the door latches shifted and a man in cloth disguise as he entered into the room followed by another, this time a shorter one; the man was wearing an eye patch on his right eye.

They saw that it was a woman, easily defined by her womanly figure.

The man spoke in Peshawar, "You two will be executed by dawn tomorrow…unless you give me some information I needed."

The woman hesitated for a moment before she interpreted for him in English.

Emily recognized her voice, as did John Porter; it was Danni Prendiville.

"You!" John exclaimed angrily at her. "How could you betray me…us…your agency, your country, Danni!"

The woman glared at him as she removed her veil and spoke, "I am Vega, no longer Danni Prendiville. She is dead." She declared solemnly. "I belong to Allah. He is my God." She held her hand high above in the air before she turned to leave.

The man shook his head to stop her, "You will stay and watch."

She frowned for a moment and then nodded, "As you wish, My Master." She bowed low to him.

Emily and John exchanged looks, "I don't think I like the sound of this." She said.

"Me too." John agreed.

The door opened wider, another man wheeled in a cart, the two agents saw with dread; a car battery hooked with cables and a bronze wand; the two agents knew this torture method was called the _Picana_.

As international agents, they were aware of all forms of sadistic tortures; they had seen videos of subjects being tortured by electricity, water-boarding, being left out in the extreme heat or sun in the hot desert sun or extreme cold. Food depravity as well was used as another form of torture and for women; rape or gang rape methods.

It was something Emily did not look forward to; it also brought back memories of her torture from Ian Doyle.

John Porter was angry; he could not believe Danni had betrayed him, and Emily had been right! She had read her clearly; he was made a fool.

He could not see her as a sleeper! All these years working as an intelligence agency officer in MI-6! What other intelligence information had she told the enemy?

"Who are you?" John asked the masked man.

"I am the leader of the Taliban and Al Qaeda."

"There is no such leader of two groups." Emily exclaimed.

The man turned to her and spat out, "I do not need to answer to a woman! But just to amuse your curiosity, I am now their leader and they have accepted me as their leader." He said proudly.

"Where is Al Fashir, Danni?" John demanded.

Danni/Vega turned to stare blankly at him but the masked man answered, "You do not ask her anything, John Porter."

John startled slightly as the mention of his name as he glanced at the man.

"Oh yes," He moved to stand beside Danni and with one finger, gently stroke her face and turned to John, "Vega has been trained by me and she, as you can see, is very skill in the arts of pleasure…is she not, John Porter? Did you enjoy her body? Did she please you night after night? But she is mine. Vega, I gave her this name." He chuckled. "She has been providing so much valuable information to me, and my men." He revealed. "Everything I need to know about MI-6 and your British intelligence. All your weaknesses, MI-6 will fall under my hands, just because of Vega." He clenched his fist tightly as Danni smiled proudly.

Porter began to struggle against his chains angrily, "You bitch!" He glared at Danni. "You'll pay for this!"

Danni smiled sadly, "No, you will." She turned and walked up to Emily and began to cut the buttons from her shirt, exposing her black bra, "But first this infidel bitch will suffer. We need American intelligence from her."

Emily stared at her, "Do you know what Vega means in Arabic?"

Danni did not answer.

Emily continued, "It means 'fallen'. Don't you know when that bastard asshole you call boyfriend gave you this name, it means that you are a fallen woman? A whore?"

Danni turned to face the masked man, "Is this true, Mustafa?"

The man rushed to her and slapped her on her face, "I told you not to use my true name!"

Danni hissed immediately with pain as she held her cheek as she stared at him in surprise, her head bowed down quickly, "I'm sorry…Master. It slipped."

The masked man, Mustafa, immediately softened as he gathered Danni into his arms and cooed at her, "It's okay, I apologize for striking at you, my lovely Vega. But you must remember to not use my name in front of these infidels. They are not worthy of knowing who I am."

Emily grinned, "Kind of late now…Mustafa."

Mustafa flashed Emily an angry look and said to the man by the cart, "Saleh! Give this infidel bitch an extra dose of your specialty! And make it count, I want to hear her scream extra loud." He turned to face Emily and laughed. "Oh, you will sing like a little bird, stupid American!" He laughed again as continued, "Get the information, Saleh…the helicopter is here already, I don't want to miss my ride." He looked at Danni "Make sure Saleh gets the information from her before you join me tomorrow with the others, I am expecting two more shipment and I must be there to make the trade." He smiled briefly at her, "Then we will take care of everything together, Vega…everything will fall into place. We will reap the goods of others." He kissed her soundly before He left the room. Danni moved to stand by Saleh as she rubbed her still reddened cheek.

John shook his head, "Danni, don't do this to her! This is not you!" He struggled against his chains, the skin around his wrists was rubbed raw as it began to bleed but he ignored them as he continued his struggle.

"It is not for me to go against my Master's orders." Danni shrugged.

"Look at you!" John shouted at her angrily. "He is making you call him Master! What kind of sick and twisted bastard would do that to a human being?"

Danni did not reply, she nodded to Saleh, "What are you waiting for, Saleh?"

Saleh attached the necessary cables and tested the wand and smiled as he saw sparks from it, "It is ready!" He chuckled as he walked towards the side of the wall where there was a valve and turned it. Water began to flow from the rusted pipes above Emily and John, soon they were wet.

Saleh approached Emily with the bronze wand, he was wearing heavy gloves, "Shall we begin?"

"Go to hell, Saleh! You won't get those 72 virgins either!" Emily spit at him as water dripped onto her.

Saleh laughed as he touched her stomach, near the old scar.

Immediately she felt intense jolt and pain; again it reminded her of the torture she received from Ian Doyle when he carved the shamrock on her chest; the burning, hot, intense pain.

She grunted hard as she tried to focus the pain in her mind.

Saleh was surprised to see that she did not scream; they usually do at the first jab as most did not expect the intense jolt.

"Too easy for you?" He asked her in disappointment.

Breathing hard, Emily stared at him, "What? Was that you? I thought someone was tickling me…you know I am ticklish." She laughed just as Saleh turned up the voltage and approached Emily again.

This time, Emily screamed; she did not expect the intensity and it was high.

Danni covered her ears as Saleh jabbed at Emily twice; the close confines of the room made the screams much louder, "I'm going back to my room, Saleh, I can't stand the screams. Keep at it!" She ordered him as she left the room quickly.

Saleh did not respond as he was in his element; torturing was his 'high'.

"Are you afraid now?" He asked Emily. "You should. I could dial up more if you are still up to it." He grinned at her, showing jagged yellow smoke stained teeth.

Emily glared at him and briefly glanced over to John, "Oh…just a few more…" She panted tiredly and painfully. "I have to confess, I am quite tired of you jabbing that damn wand on my side…I'm ready to reciprocate the sentiment."

Saleh frowned at her last sentence, "What do you mean?"

Since he was standing between them, Saleh could not see John had slipped his chains down the pipe towards Emily and now he was directly behind Saleh.

Using his upper muscle strength, he hoisted himself up and jumped as he wrapped his legs around Saleh's neck and tightening his thighs, he soon rendered the torturer into unconsciousness as he dropped to the ground.

At the same time, the weight of a grown man was too much for the slim rusted metal pipe and it soon broke and collapsed as John and Emily fell into a heap with her on top of him. The live bronze wand next to them, about an inch from John's face.

Rudely pushing Emily out of his way onto the other side and scooting himself out of the way of the wand, giving them a farther distance than an inch just in case it decided to roll towards him.

"Sorry, Emily…we were cutting it too close and I do not wish to be electrocuted."

Weak from torture, Emily nodded, "It's okay…we need to get out of here." She tried to get up but found she couldn't as her legs were too weak, she collapsed onto the muddy floor face down.

"Easy…Oh!" John's eyes widened as he tried not to smile when he helped her up. "I…hmmm…"

"What?" She frowned at him as she looked at him. "Why are you grinning again?"

He shook his head as he tried to wipe her face with his bare hands. "You have uh…mud…on your face." He began to laugh; his shoulders began to move up and down as he tried not to look at her.

"Not funny, Porter. Just get it off!" She tried to wipe her face but her cuffed hands were muddy and she made it worst.

John continued to laugh more until they heard Saleh groaned.

Quickly, he grabbed the man's head and snapped his neck and broke it, killing him instantly.

"That was nicely done." Emily nodded at him. "Pity we couldn't torture him slowly…but still …" she shrugged.

John shrugged, "Hey, he could have sounded the alarm and warn someone."

She nodded in agreement. "So what's next?"

He stood up and looked about them in the room, "We'll need to grab the wires for weapons…check what's out there, find out how many are out there and find Al Fashir, if he's not dead." He opened the door cautiously.

Emily unplugged the cables from the car battery with her cuffed hands and wound the cables around her wrists, "This is not as easy as they make it out on TV."

John turned to look at her, "You've been watching too much telly, Emily." He grinned. "Don't believe in their stun stuff. You know it's not real."

She nodded, "I know that!" She looked down at her shirt and remembered Danni had cut all the buttons so she gathered the corners of the shirt and tied them together.

John shrugged at her, "Pity…I was having a good show." He teased her.

Emily hit him playfully, "This is not a free peeping show! Eyes forward, Porter! We have much more important work."

He chuckled and said, "All right…are you ready?"

She nodded, "Let's go!"

With a nod, the John Porter opened the door slowly and the two crept out quietly.

….

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

Strike Back – Kandahar

Chapter 5

.

"We have traitors in here?" Hugh Collinson repeated in disbelief. "How many?"

Layla showed him the phone log sheet; they were in Hugh's office.

"Two." Layla said quietly. She was still reeling from the news herself; one of them was her good friend Danni Preniville.

Hugh looked up from the log sheets at Layla, "This has been going on for over five years?"

She nodded.

"And no one knew about it? Suspected anything?" He asked her.

She shook her head.

"And we send that traitor right into their hands…with one of our best assets?"

She nodded.

"And an American." Hugh looked up at the ceiling. "I'm in so much trouble." He muttered as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Hugh…we didn't know about Danni…" She tried to justify.

He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again and looked at Layla who refused to look at him, "It doesn't matter, the Yanks won't look at it that way, Layla. All they see is; we've put one of their people in harm's way." He moved closer to her, effectively trapping her as she was cornered with her back to the wall and the edge of his desk as he continued, "We must find them…and Al Fashir. Do you understand?" He asked her in a quiet but dangerous tone. "And the traitor here…flush him out and arrest him."

"Y…yes…sir!" Layla nodded eagerly as she squeezed herself out of the way and quickly scooted out of the office but not before she was warned by Hugh to be discreet.

As she rushed to the ladies' room to splash some cold water onto her face, Layla again thought of all the things she had said to Danni in the past as she clutched tightly both sides of the porcelain sink and stared at her reflection on the mirror…

_How could she stood there and pretend to be her friend all those years?_ _She had been a traitor all along! She had sold her own country!_ _And now, John Porter's life is in danger! As well as this American interpreter…_

Layla frowned; What did she know about Danni's family except that her parents were…well

_Wait…was she born on the British soil…no…yes, she had mentioned her parents were born in the Middle East and they had immigrated here in England and Danni was born here in Liverpool; Layla never met Danni's parents, she was not the type to pry. She should have!_

_Were they patriots of their parent country? Did they ever give up their citizenship?_

Straightening up from the sink, Layla walked away from the restroom and took control of the situation.

She made some calls first before she walked into the control room…

Hugh Collinson watched Layla walked away from him before he looked at his hands and saw that they were shaking.

"Damn!" he shoved them into his pants pockets angrily. "I'm sorry, John!" He stared out at the window, beyond the view but he was not seeing the scenery before him; he was thinking of the present mission, he hoped John was all right, as well as their new American interpreter…the hell with Danni Prendiville!

"Bloody fucking traitor!" He muttered against the glass window as he leaned his forehead against the cool material…

…..

Back in Kandahar…

The two agents managed to locate the whereabouts of Al Fashir who was kept in an isolation shed; he was unconscious but still alive.

He had been severely tortured when they found him; his right eye was swollen shut and his left eye was bleeding as well.

Most of his teeth were knocked out and his mouth was swollen and bloodied.

In fact his entire face was swollen.

But the fact was he was still alive gave the two agents hope.

"Why have they not killed him?" John asked her.

"Al Fashir must carry something important Hamas wanted." Emily said.

John nodded, "What do you think it is?"

She shook her head, "It's hard to tell, a key cell or something else. I'm not sure."

He glanced at the injured man and around him, "Let's make our escape while we can." He spotted several crates by the far wall, "Emily, look at this…and this…"

Emily rushed to John's side as she read the labels, "They are weapons… AK-47s, STK-225s…" She looked around her and began reading the labels on the crates, "RPGs…grenades…bouncing betties, claymores." She paused before she continued, "C-4s, and more C-4s…to… to blow an entire town to kingdom come!" She turned back to face John, "My god, what is going on? We'd better get out of here and warn INTERPOL, and your British Intel, and the Americans for safe measure."

John nodded as they turned back to Al Fashir, "Let's loosen him first."

They quickly untied the injured man who could barely walk as they lifted his arms over their shoulders which was quite difficult as their hands were still cuffed.

"This is certainly not as easy as they made it out on TV shows…" Emily grunted hard as she hoisted Al Fashir on one side while John was on the other side.

"I told you Emily, you watched too much telly." He huffed.

She laughed at him, "I'm kidding, Porter! Actually I don't have much time to watch TV these days…working undercover takes a lot of work and I have to keep in shape."

They had moved towards the door by this time, ever slowly, "Oh…you have no worries about keeping in shape." He teased her. "You have an excellent pleasing form…"

"Oh please, Porter!" Emily rolled her eyes. "Are you trying to flirt with me? Now is not really a good time."

He grinned as he leaned over Al Fashir's head, "Any time is a good time to flirt and besides, haven't you notice the not-so-subtle-hints all those time?"

She chuckled, "Oh, I have but I chose to ignore them. I have a rule, Porter; I don't mess with married men."

John frowned, "Ouch! That hurts! But I respect that and applaud you."

"Ha!" Emily shook her head as she grunted at the extra weight she was carrying, "You applaud me for that?"

He nodded his head as he placed Al Fashir down by the door and leaned outside and turned to Emily, "Okay…so far there are only three lookouts by a big building to our right at our one o'clock."

Emily nodded, "What are they carrying?"

"The usual weapon of choice; AK-47s."

"Great…" Emily muttered. "We're not armed and they are. We're screwed."

John nodded, "Look, the sun is almost setting…"

Emily grinned, "It'll be time for their prayers…where's East?"

John looked about him and pointed to his left, "Over there!"

"Good, we'll move to our right when they begin their prayers."

John nodded, "Sounds good to me." He closed the door and leaned back and waited. "So, Emily…how did you come to work for the INTERPOL?"

She stared at John for a moment before she shook her head and laughed, "I can't believe this! You're asking me about my career choice?"

John nodded, "Well, what else would you like to talk about? Husband? I know you're not married…you're not wearing a wedding band. Boyfriend? You've never mention any man before. So, I know you're single and you're not a lesbian…"

Emily's eyes widened, "Oh my god! How did you know I'm not a…a…lesbian!" She was leaning close towards John, angrily. "I could be!"

He shook his head confidently, "No, you're not. Your manners indicated it…you are jealous of Danni, I've seen the way you looked at us." He grinned again.

She frowned heavily, "I could be jealous of the way you were paying too much attention to her!" She rattled her cuffs in anger. "You presumed too much!"

John leaned over Al Fashir as well until he was almost nose to nose to Emily, "You are not a lesbian, Emily Prentiss. I know it. And I don't have to be a professionally accredited profiler to know that you are not one of them."

She leaned slightly away from him as his close proximity was overwhelming her, "Ho…how…how do…do?"

"How do I know?" He completed her question.

She nodded, not trusting herself as they were still very close to each other, their lips were very close.

"I know because you would often watch me when you think I'm not…and if you're a lesbian, you'd be eyeing Danni, not me." He was looking down at her lips.

She was watching his eyes and she saw they were focused on her lips; she unconsciously licked her lips and swallowed hard, "Is that right?"

He nodded, "Yeah…you're not hard to read…and I've wanted to do this…ever since I saw you in your damn neon bright bikini…" He didn't finish his sentence as he swooped in and kissed her, at first gently…

Emily closed her eyes as she relished his soft lips and oh-so wonderful kisses.

He was right; she had been watching him the entire time they were in the safe house; mostly surreptitiously but she had not known he knew about it!

When they separated, she was smiling shyly at him; her face turned beet red instantly as she stared down at the bare floor.

He chuckled, "No worries Emily, I'm rather flattered you're interested and it's just that I couldn't return the feelings at that time."

She snapped her head up at looked at him, "What do you mean, at that time? You just said, you were…?"

He gave her a small frown, "It was bad timing and I knew about Danni's betrayal…"

"You do?"

He nodded, "I tried to tell Hugh …tried to warn him but he wouldn't listen to me. He told me MI-6 had filtered all the agents and they passed every background checks." He shook his head as he looked out in the distance. "He told me I was being paranoid."

"What made you suspicious of her?"

He turned to look at her, "She talked in her sleep and it was in Peshawar." He smiled sadly. "All of our MI-6 officers are British. I looked at her personnel file and there was no indication that she knew that language and I tested her again when we met at a café a month ago. I use one Peshawar word and she looked at me in acknowledgement. Then she laughed and pretended she thought I called her something else." He shrugged. "That's when I approached Hugh and told him maybe Danni might be a sleeper."

Emily shook her head, "I knew it, the signs are all there." She turned to him, "And he didn't believe you?"

He shook his head, "Not at all."

"So, now what?"

"Let's hope -6 found out by now about her and another."

"And another?" She repeated.

John nodded, "Yes, there's another traitor...another sleeper."

She shook her head, "It seems you people have your hands full at both ends…" Suddenly they heard loud shouting voices.

"What are they saying?" John looked at her.

"They found Saleh." She turned to him. "I think they're going to come looking for us soon…very soon." She began to get up and moved to hoist Al Fashir, "Come on…let's get him out of here."

Just then, they heard a loud chanting; it was time for their evening prayers!

Emily and John exchanged looks, "Talk about timing!" John smiled. "Let's go!" He opened the door softly and they moved on as one and slowly and looked out and he nodded, "Okay…we're good." They shuffled quietly out of the shed and went around the back ways, glad the sky was dusking.

Heading for the opening beyond them they hurried with their heavy load.

It was a long process but thankfully the Muslims' evening prayers were longer than the morning ones so it gave them an advantage.

By the time prayer was over, the three were well out of the outcroppings of the hills in the outskirts of the border of the small town near Kandahar.

Setting Al Fashir down who was still unconscious, Emily was glad to take a break, as well as John as he moved away from them, making sure they were in a safely hidden area.

John came back to sit by them, "It's safe here, we'll wait until it's completely dark before we move on."

She nodded, "Do you know where we're at?"

Suddenly, another voice intruded their conversation, it was Al Fashir!

"We are on the outskirts of Karz, it's about 3 kilometers from Kandahar." He said slowly. He nodded slowly to his right and spoke again, "When the… moon rises above the horizon, we will… follow towards her and… walk three more kilometers…Kandahar will be there. I have…third wife in a house." He looked at Emily and smiled softly at her. "She wants to go to…Miami with me…is with child."

Emily smiled. "Your first child?"

He nodded, "My first wife died at child birth…she couldn't make it." He shook his head. "Second wife left me for younger and stupid British actor." He looked at John. "Apologies, my friend."

John grinned and shook his head, "No worries, mate; British actors are horrible fellas…they will cheat on their wives."

Al Fashir laughed and frowned in pain, "Well, she deserves him tenfold…may Allah see to that!" He grunted in pain again as he tried to shift his sitting position. "I'm all right." He shook his head as Emily and John tried to help him.

"I'm sorry, Mahmoud." Emily said to him. "I wish they would not have been so horrible to you. It seems they needed some very important information from you."

Al Fashir glanced at Emily warily and nodded, "You are astute, my lady; they indeed are looking for more information and I am the sole keeper of the original context of the Quran."

Emily glanced over to Porter who shrugged in confusion, "The original context? I thought the context was dated in the 9th century and the context is now preserved in the Museum in Iran…"

Al Fashir shook his head slowly as he interrupted her, "That is not the true context, my lady. It is a forgery."

"A forgery?" Emily's eyes widened. "You mean to tell me someone took the real book?"

"No…it was never there in the first place. The real book…which is not really a real book, it's made of camel's skin." He gave a soft chuckle and coughed laboriously. "I'm okay…I think it's my ribs…but I'll make it, for my Fareena." He nodded and continued, "The original Quran is made out of camel's skin, there was no paper back then, remember?"

They nodded.

"And skin lasted a very long time too. It was dated in the 2nd century and kept by a Caliph from Persia."

Emily nodded, "Who later became the second Caliph of Kanzir which became Kandahar."

Al Fashir stared at Emily and beamed, "You are very well versed in your history of the Middle East, my lady." He then gave her a slight bow of respect.

John added, "So you're saying, you have the original artifact?"

Al Fashir nodded, "But it's not with me…here."

"Then where is it?"

"My Fareena's house." He answered simply. "In the back of the book, is the map of the location of the final cell." Al Fashir revealed. "Someone accidentally wrote on it."

The two agents stared at him in disbelief, "You're kidding?"

Al Fashir shook his head, "No kidding…very serious. The context is very serious business."

Emily held her hand out, "Er…we believe you, Mahmoud but this is very, very hard to digest."

Al Fashir nodded, "I know, it is difficult for me to believe someone would write on such a sacred book too. But it is the truth. I will show you once we are out of here."

John turned to him, "Promise?"

Al Fashir nodded, "I am Muslim…I never fail on my promises. My beloved Fareena will not permit me to do so."

"Where is she?" Emily asked him.

"She is waiting for me at our house as we speak."

"Does anyone know about your relationship with her?"

He shook his head, "No. I don't think so. Fareena knows no one in the town. She keeps to herself."

"How far is this house from here?" John asked him.

"Not far…I will show you. She has telephone – Verizon- international calls. You can call for help." Al Fashir nodded to him. "And we have cutters…free your hands from the chains." He smiled.

John nodded and smiled, "Well, that's our answer then. We'll go to the house and make the call to Hugh and wait out from there."

"No weapons?" Emily looked at him.

"I have a few guns lying in the house…just in case." Al Fashir shrugged.

Emily smiled, "Well, that's set then." She looked up into the sky. "Are we ready?" It had gone dark.

The two men nodded.

Emily turned to Al Fashir, "By the way, who wrote on the Quran?"

"He is called Mustafa; no one has seen him, just his people.

John and Emily exchanged stunned looks, "Oh!"

Al Fashir stopped in his tracks, "You have seen Mustafa?"

The two agents nodded.

"What does he looked like?"

"Well, we didn't really see his face," Emily explained, "He was wearing a covering but he has an eye patch…"

"On his right eye?" Al Fashir rushed to her anxiously.

Emily nodded, "Yes…what's so significance about that?"

Al Fashir smiled, "My brother – may Allah rest his soul – stabbed him in his eye in fight when they were in their teens. Saifar is his actual name. He must have changed it to Mustafa when he became a leader of the Taliban. When he was still Saifar, he tried to steal my brother's shoes." Al Fashir shook his head in anger. "Should have stabbed that thief in his heart instead! That would have ended all of this misery!" He turned and walked on.

Emily and John shook their heads in amazement and followed his lead; the moon had just begun to rise on the horizon ahead of them.

"Do you know when I was unconscious, I had a vision; Allah came to me and told me two messengers will lead me to my promise land!" He raised his hands up to the sky and smiled. He pointed at the two agents, "You are my two messengers from Allah! I know that! And the promised land…it is Miami!"

Emily arched her brow and shook her head, "If he only knows Miami is anything but the Promised Land." She muttered to John as they continued.

"That bad huh?"

"You don't want to know, pal."

…..

End of Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

Strike Back – Kandahar

Chapter 6

.

The reunion between Al Fashir and his wife, Fareena, was short and sweet as they were in a hurry.

"We must make contact with the British Intelligence." Al Fashir explained to his wife who nodded.

"Then we go to Miami!" She said excitedly as she rubbed her huge belly. "Our daughter must be born there!" She turned around and headed to the kitchen while Al Fashir headed to the bedroom in search for the phone.

John and Emily were busy peeking out the window making sure they were not followed.

"All clear so far." John Porter declared as he stood behind Emily.

She nodded, "When we are out of this country, then you can declare all clear, Porter."

He grinned, "You're right. I'm quite tired of this place already."

Al Fashir approached them with the phone and several weapons as he sat down beside them, "Here is the phone but it is not" He frowned at them, "secure. It can be tracked."

Emily and John exchanged worried looks, "British Intel is out of the question." Emily declared. "They will be monitoring their com lines."

John nodded reluctantly, "Then whom do you suggest we call for help?"

Emily thought for a moment before she grinned and began to dial a set of numbers as she put it on speaker mode and said, "Let's hope she's not busy with the team at the moment..." She glanced at the two men who were watching her anxiously.

The call was picked up on the second ring;

…_Morgan, I told you I do not have the data ready…I may be good but not that good! Just give me three more minutes…_

Emily smiled as she could imagine Penelope Garcia's expression. "Hey," She decided this is a good time to cut in before her beloved friend launched into a tirade that might become embarrassing to everyone in the vicinity. "Time out, Golden Goddess!"

John and Al Fashir frowned in puzzle as they stared at Emily 'Golden Goddess?'

Emily continued to grin at the phone while ignoring the men, "This is not your chocolate Divine piece of Heaven you call Derek Morgan." She chuckled.

There was a pause before Garcia squeaked; _Oh my god! Is this Emily? My one and only Emily who has flown across the pond and is on her own?_

"Correct on all counts, how are you, Garcia?"

_I'm fine my dearest…what are you doing? I'm not registering you …wait…you're calling me on a mysterious phone number and in the Middle East? What are you doing in the Middle East…Kandahar, no less?_ She admonished her friend and began to scold her about being careless and out on her own…

Emily turned to stare at John and rolled her eyes for emphasis and decided to stop her best friend, "Garcia…stop, stop! Before you hurt your vocal chords" she smiled. "I'm fine…well, kind of fine. I need your help."

_Of course you need my help, you're in Kandahar, in the middle of the shittiest assignment, out in the dessert… and god help me, you must be working with the worst kind of people…and they are not nice to you at all…_

Emily grinned at John who shook his head, Al Fashir was smiling delightfully; he was enjoying this one sided conversation.

…_and the bathroom facilities must be the worst sorts! When was the last time you took a long, long luxurious bath? And who is taking care of Sergio? I bet you have some 90-ish grey haired old lady who over feeds that poor boy…_

Emily shook her head and cut in, "Garcia, please…Serge is fine, he's well taken care of by my neighbor who's a guy in his 30s and single. And no, don't bother pairing me with him…he's gay." She could hear his disappointment as she laughed at her again and added, "But I really need you to get word to INTERPOL and Clyde Easter from your end and here's what I need you to transmit…"

She began to give her certain information that John and Al Fashir were surprised when Emily began to speak French as Garcia recorded her words.

John spoke quietly to Al Fashir, interpreting Emily's words, "She is relaying to INTERPOL for assistance, asking for air support to destroy the camp on the border of Karz… we think Mustafa is going to ship the crates to Azerbaijan where it is near Iran."

Al Fashir nodded, "I see, they are intending to cause an international incident."

John nodded his head, "Exactly, putting NATO right in the midst of the whole thing."

"Very smart move." Al Fashir nodded. "But you two are going to stop this, right?"

John nodded, "If we can stop this in time, Mahmoud."

Emily pressed a button to end the transmission and sat back, "Okay, words out and now we wait." She leaned back and closed her eyes. "Let's hope this line is not intercepted."

Fareena soon came in with much needed refreshments; the three rushed to her thankfully as they devoured the food gratefully.

Emily eyed Fareena's condition and asked her in Farsi, "How much farther before the baby arrives?"

Fareena rubbed her belly fondly, "A few more days." She smiled softly and then giggled when she felt the baby kicked in respond, "She is very active, very anxious to come out to meet the world."

Emily smiled at her, "Just as long as she holds on until we reach the New World."

Fareena turned to Al Fashir and leaned against her husband's chest, "We are most grateful for your help."

Al Fashir stroked Fareena's hair gently and nodded, "This will be our chance to start a new life…for our daughter and our future children."

"Mahmoud, you do know you and Fareena will be sequestered once we arrived in the United States, and then you will be given new identities..." Emily began to explain to them the process of the Witness Protection Program for the next 20 minutes.

John Porter was examining the old Quran carefully; he was mainly interested in the map Mustafa had drawn. The map had indicated it was in the country of Afghanistan and in the small province of Zabul which was directly northeast of Kandahar!

John sat straight up and turned to the others and quickly explained to them.

"It would not be hard to load all the weapons and drive to Zabul."

"But when is the strike? Do you remember he said he was expecting more shipment?" Emily pulled the book towards her and began to read the map, hoping there was some indication or dates on it.

John nodded as he thought deeply about their situation.

Al Fashir began to think hard as well, "Well, the Holy fasting month of Ramadan begins in two days on the new crescent moon cycle. When we traveled tonight, the moon was barely formed…that means we have two more days."

Emily looked up from the book, "They will either strike before or after Ramadan."

Al Fashir nodded, "The question will be which one?"

"Before." Emily said.

"After." John spoke at the same time; the two agents stared at each other and smiled.

Al Fashir looked at one and then the other, and began to grin, "Well, well. Why did I not see this before?" He smacked his own forehead.

The two agents turned to look at Al Fashir, "What are you talking about, Mahmoud?" Emily asked.

The man in question chuckled, showing his broken teeth but he was unfazed, "You two!" He pointed at the two of them excitedly. "You are a match made in Allah's paradise! I did not tell you of my second vision; it was Mohammed who told me that the two messengers will merge into one." He laughed again. "I did not understand that message at first but now I do." He nodded sagely. "You will be one very soon." He rubbed his hands together happily. "You must allow my Fareena and myself to host this union. It will be my utmost pleasure to do it, and my gratitude." He sobered for a moment as he bowed low from the waist towards Emily and John.

The two agents stared at Al Fashir in stunned silence.

"Mahmoud," Emily shook her head when she recovered from the shock. "I think they must have hit your head a little too hard, you've got your wires crossed."

Al Fashir shook his head firmly, "No my lady, I am sure of it. The vision is very clear."

"I agree with Emily, Mahmoud. We are not compatible…and besides," he hesitated for a moment before he continued, "I'm already married with a teenage daughter."

Al Fashir frowned at John, "You are?"

John nodded, "I'm afraid so, mate."

"Then…the vision…"

"Is faulty." Emily completed his sentence. "Look Mahmoud, sometimes, things are not what it seems in dreams, visions can sometimes be interpreted differently. We are not your messengers," She shook her head. "We're here only to help you and get you out of here, our mission is to…"

The telephone suddenly rang; startling everyone in the room as they jerked out of their seats; Emily and John had their hands on their weapons in one quick motion while Al Fashir grabbed ahold of his young wife as she gripped his hand in fear.

When they realized it was the phone, they breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed their stances.

As the phone belonged to Fareena, she answered the phone but it was Penelope Garcia who was calling for Emily.

"Hey Garcia, what's up? You're on speaker." Emily turned it on to speaker mode.

_Oh…okay, hello everyone, whoever's everyone over there. Emily, I'll not waste your time. I just got off the phone with Clyde Easter who by the way is very charming with his sexy French accent and I can listen to him all day and especially all night…_ she sighed heavily for emphasis; Emily rolled her eyes upwards and shook her head.

"Focus Penelope, what do you have?" Emily urged her but she was smiling.

_Yes…yes…_Garcia continued, _I'm getting to it, peaches but I just have to get my heart beat back to normal…yes, Clyde said to tell you that the intel you've given is balls on accurate, quote unquote, and the plan is already in play for before the feasting of Ramadan. INTERPOL has detained a man called Shabazz El Taq who revealed that he is from the faction in collusion with Mustafa._

"Did he describe what Mustafa looked like?" Emily asked her.

_An ugly pirate with a patch on his right eye_, confirmed Garcia.

Al Fashir nodded his head.

"He got it. That is Mustafa, the ring leader. Please relay to INTERPOL that we've ID the final location and it's Zabul."

_Got it…Zabul. Oh my god…that's so near where you are!_ Garcia gushed.

"I know, my dear but time's wasting…the new moon is coming and Ramadan is beginning as we speak and the crates might be moving as we speak." Emily frowned. "Hurry and get the message to them, Garcia."

_But, but…you…you…are there…right now!_

I'm okay…we're in a safe house, don't worry about us, we'll be fine. INTERPOL knows where the extract point."

_Okay…stay safe, my love to all of you…_Garcia out!

When Emily pressed the end button and looked up she was startled to see that John had moved up to sit right next to her.

"Er, something wrong?" She asked him, feeling unnerved by his close proximity.

"Yes, why did you lie to this Garcia that we'll be fine? INTERPOL will not get to us in time, will they?"

Emily stared at him for a moment before she shook her head, "No, the strike will be over by the time rescue gets here."

Al Fashir and his wife cried out in fear, "You promised us to safety, my lady!" Mahmoud begged her.

Emily turned to them, "We must get to the Airbase right now, it's not far from here…it's our only chance." She stood up and waited for them.

"We must gather some of our belongings…and the context." Mahmoud nodded to her as his wife headed for the bedroom. "I must not leave the book behind; it must accompany me at all times."

Emily nodded to him, "I understand, Mahmoud but we must hurry."

John came to stand by the door beside her, "When this is over," John held her arm to stop her, "you and I are going to have dinner…and whatever comes later."

Emily shook her head, "No, John. You're married, remember? I don't…"

He grinned, "I know, you don't go for married man." He paused and continued, "I have a confession; my wife and I are separated….in fact the last phone call she made before we were off grid, was her telling me that my stuff are packed and stored in a storage." He grinned at her. "She couldn't put up with me being in danger all the time."

"And your cheating ways." Emily added.

John shook his head, "No, Emily. My marriage was over when I slept with Danni…she had moved on and filed for divorce when I made my move on Danni." He looked beyond and was thinking of the day he found out of his wife's plans… "She was seeing someone else by that time, someone who could give her what I couldn't, stability…a stable life and my daughter…she hated me too. I sent her birthday cards every year but they were all returned by the postal unopened." He closed his eyes sadly. "I failed them. I failed my daughter, I failed my wife."

Emily reached over and smoothed his hair, "Hey, you can always start over…maybe one day your daughter will forgive and understand what you did for your country, what you had sacrifice for your country."

He smiled before he opened his eyes and watched her, "What about that unrequited love of yours? That man whom you had waited so many years? Did he finally realize your feelings for him?"

She shook her head, "He's in the past, John. It's time I move on as well. It's time I make my own life…maybe settle down and start my own family."

"You're avoiding my question, Emily."

She shook her head, "He's engaged to another woman." She finally looked up to smile at him, "You see, I realize I have to move on as well. I have to stop waiting, he's not going to come to me at all. Like you, I'm a failure in relationship."

He shook his head, "Well, maybe together we can figure out something. Two broken souls."

"You're not a broken soul, John Porter." She turned away from him and stared out into the sky. "Just a bruised and misunderstood one." She sighed heavily. "If you only knew what where I've been in the last twenty years, you'd have fled far, far away from me."

He took her hand and held it close to him, "Not a chance, Emily. We seem to be two of a kind. Maybe we have more in common than you think."He gathered her into his arms and held her as he watched the night sky with her.

Al Fashir stopped in his tracks when he saw the two agents standing in the doorway together and smiled.

"Oh, Allah! You are truly magnificent! And very wise!" He nodded as he held onto the old context of the Quran, wrapped in old faded linens as he sought out his beloved wife, and his unborn child whom he had picked out her name; Emilia binte Fashir.

...

Back in England:

At the MI-6 Headquarters, the workers in the beehive did not realize they were one man short when they reported for work that morning, especially Officer Hill.

He was too busy concentrating on his work to notice his workmate to his right had not reported for work at all. Not until lunchtime did Hill realize Officer Meron had not been there all along.

When he asked another colleague about him, he was told Meron was transferred to another location.

With a shrug, Hill went back to his duty and work through his day and never thought of Meron anymore.

As for Meron, he was never to be heard of again.

….

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

Strike Back – Kandahar

Chapter 7

.

The sun was almost up when Mustafa and his men arrived in the alley.

"Where are they?" He turned to his second in command, Hassan.

Hassan nodded at his Master, "They are asleep in the house. We have readings of four people within." He looked up from his equipment.

Mustafa nodded to his second in command who smiled as he pulled out his knife and nodded to his men, "Let's get in position." He slid away into the shadows of the alleyways and disappeared.

"Isham had better not fail me this time." He turned to Hassan. "If he does, kill him and his men."

Hassan smiled, "It shall be done, my Master. What about the shipment?"

Mustafa waved him off, "No worries, I have it done…Vega is on her way with it to the city as we speak."

"You trust a woman to do the job?" Hassan frowned.

Mustafa stared at him, "Yes I do, Hassan my friend. She knows the consequences of failure and so far she has not failed me."

"But the infidels got away!" Hassan protested.

Mustafa held his hand up, "Yes, I understand that and it was not her fault entirely and Saleh paid for his mistakes for being careless. And it was she who suggested we put a tracking device on Mustafa just in case, and she was right. Now, they will lead us to the book, I must have the map back."

Hassan nodded, "Pity you didn't remember the precise location, my Master."

Mustafa sighed, "I know…I had drawn it in a hurry…Omar was in a rush when he gave me the direction all those years ago…I should not have trusted that fool, Mahmoud certainly held on longer than his brother did."

Hassan smiled, "Yes, Marid took much torture Saleh gave, pity he has a weak heart." He was thinking of the torture Saleh had inflicted on Al Fashir's brother for the whereabouts of the Quran.

"In a few minutes I will have the book and the map…Zabul will become the new stronghold of the new regime of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

…..

"Did he take the bait?" Emily watched them in the distance.

"Oh yeah…he did." John nodded as he sat the binoculars down and smiled at her. "Good call on the chip you swept up."

Emily smiled and nodded, "Just call it luck."

John shook his head, "I don't really believe in luck, she has eluded me too many times."

"Then it's time to trust her again." She leaned in and kissed him suddenly.

"Well, if this is what luck gets me, then yes, I'll believe her again!" John beamed widely.

Emily laughed, "Don't expect it too often. It's just that we're by ourselves at the moment."

The two agents were soon interrupted by the arrival of four HumVees, courtesy of NATO who did get the message from INTERPOL.

Emily and John began to direct the team the whereabouts of Mustafa and his group who had surrounded Al Fashir's house.

As for Al Fashir and his wife, they were safely escorted to the Air Base within Kandahar.

The evening before they left the house, Emily found it odd that Mustafa's people had not pursued them hard enough if Al Fashir was important to them. It was John who had the idea that maybe Danni might have suggested placing a tracking device on Al Fashir; it was a standard procedure for MI-6.

The two agents then went through Al Fashir's clothing carefully and found the device embedded in his boots!

The two agents knew they had to get the two civilians out of the house as well as the book as soon as possible and also laying a trap for them when they arrived to kill them.

Now as they hid at the outskirt of the town, they saw the Taliban group surrounding Al Fashir's house.

"Agent Prentiss, Mr. Easter is on the line for you." A NATO Sgt. Handed Emily a satellite phone. "Don't worry ma'am, it's encrypted."

Emily smiled her thanks to him and took the handle from him, "Yeah Clyde?"

_Well chéri, bonjour to you too. And a well done on your latest assignment I might add._

Emily grinned, "Clyde, you might be a little premature in your congrats…Al Fashir is still not out of the woods yet."

_I have all the faith you'll deliver him to France as arranged._

Emily frowned, "Er…he's not going to France, my dear. He wants to settle in Miami, in the US of A."

There was a long pause.

Emily stared at the phone, wondering if their connection had gotten cut off when she suddenly heard a string of curses in French! Emily's brows were arched high as she listened with a grin.

John who had been watching her the whole time became intrigued, "Something the matter?"

Emily shook her head, "Oh, nothing. Clyde's being his usual affable self."

_Oh no I'm not, Emily! You know bloody well I'm fucking pissed! _Clyde continued._ I am not going to surrender a valuable asset in Al Fashir to the bloody Americans! I can't believe he wants to go to Miami! Wait a minute…this is your doing, isn't it Emily?_

Emily shook her head, "No…no, Clyde, I had nothing to do with it, he wanted to defect to Miami. He mentioned it before I had a chance to question him further! Oh no, Clyde, don't you pin this on me!"

John began to chuckle hard.

Emily turned around and saw him, she hissed at him, "This is not funny John!"

He nodded his head, "Oh yes it is."

_Who are you talking to? Did you put that civilian next to you? In harm's way?_

"No, Clyde! I'm with MI-6 personnel. In fact he's pretty good asset for INTERPOL…I'd like to keep him for us."

_You want me to steal an MI-6 officer? Well…I think I like this idea. Since I'm losing Al Fashir to the United States, it's the least you can do to get me a little compensation._

Emily grinned as she stared at John who frowned at her, "Oh…I'm sure we can make an arrangement." She said smoothly.

_Wait a minute, wait a minute, chéri…don't tell me you've slept with him already!_ Clyde exclaimed angrily on the other end. _Why do you do this to me, my Emily? You would not sleep with me but everyone else? You're breaking my damn heart!_

Emily began to chuckle, "No….my dear, I have not. You know my code."

_Ah…no mixing business for pleasure? None? I find that hard to believe_.

He paused for a moment; _Okay…I'll buy your damn bull for now, I'm a sucker for you, chéri, as always. Get this MI-6 asset to our side and I'll consider us even. _

Emily shook her head as she returned the phone to the Sgt. and turned to John but before she could relay Clyde's message, they were being hailed by the unit leader. Emily and John moved towards him.

"They are being apprehended as we speak." He informed the two agents. "Took them by surprise, let me tell ya!" He grinned. "Best take down I've ever done. This is all thanks to you two agents with your precise intel. We've been tracking Mustafa's whereabouts for the longest time…over two years to be precise, and now this is the best ending. Let's hope we'll get plenty of information from him and his goon squad."

"Did you apprehend a female in the group?" John asked him.

He shook his head, "Negative, Agent Porter. They're all males. Why?"

"She's most dangerous. She's a traitor; used to work for MI-6 but had been trained by Mustafa."

The division leader shook his head, "Sorry mate, she must have given us the slip. Do you want us to return to Karz and do another sweep?"

John returned Emily's look and shook his head, "No, it's all right…she's probably gone out of the country by now. If I know her…and she's trained by -6, she will disappear forever…untraceable." He said with regret.

"Well then, I have to report to my General…it was a pleasure to work with you two. Have a nice day…Agent Porter, Agent Prentiss." He shook both their hands before he left with his troops.

John and Emily watched them leave before the former turned to the latter, "What now?"

Emily shrugged, "We've accomplished our main objective…so we can return home."

John nodded, "What about Danni? Do we look for her?"

Emily shook her head, "Just as you said; she's untraceable."

John nodded, "Come on, let's go home. We have a lot to discuss." He gave her a meaningful smile.

Encouraged, Emily returned his smile, "Yes, John Porter, would you consider crossing over?"

He gave her a serious look and after a moment's pause he nodded, "For you, Emily Prentiss…I do." He held out his hand.

She looked at him and grabbed his hand gratefully and together they walked towards their ride and soon they were gone.

…

From far in a distant corner of a small house, there was a small window…

A woman in a navy burqa set down a pair of binoculars on the window sill and sighed heavily before she turned and walked away.

She left the house and kept walking…

In her mind, she thought to herself; Good bye John…I will always love you. She will be good for you.

Into the small car she was driven off by a male driver towards another direction, where they were heading? No one knew but the driver and the woman in the navy burqa who was never seen again.

…

The End

….

Well, and that's the end of the story! Thank you so very much for reading!

I especially want to THANK **rmpcmfan and Laila S. for reading and reviewing every chapter of this story! Thank you, Thank you so much!**

Please if you could leave one last review, i'd appreciate it very much! let me know what you think of the overall of this story!

Again, thank you! i'm forever in your debt!

P. Muse


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